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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26255443">Grounded</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pidgeapodge/pseuds/Pidgeapodge'>Pidgeapodge</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Royal Dorks [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, Gen, Mild Language, grounded, mean teacher, school problems</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 03:34:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,631</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26255443</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pidgeapodge/pseuds/Pidgeapodge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Izumi, Daughter of Zuko and Mai, Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, age ten, was grounded.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Druk &amp; Izumi (Avatar), Izumi &amp; Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Royal Dorks [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012743</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>118</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Grounded</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Izumi, Daughter of Zuko and Mai, Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, age ten, was grounded.</p>
<p>Why was she grounded? She had called her teacher a stuffy-nosed, stuck-up bastard with a too-high opinion of himself and his mustache. She was honestly quite proud of this jab. She had learned the noble art of insults (and the word “bastard”) from the plays she and her father watched together; epic tales of romance, adventure, comedy, and tragedy, almost all with some manner of verbal sparring. While some might say that these plays were not suitable for a child, Zuko would say that it’s important to expose children to the arts, and especially to classical theater.</p>
<p>She had called her teacher this because he was a stuffy-nosed, stuck-up bastard with a too-high opinion of himself and his mustache. All of the students in the class hated him. He was strict, quick to punish and slow to praise, and had a very narrow interpretation of things. He refused to hear any other opinion that contradicted his interpretations, and was not shy to belittle his students for voicing their thoughts.</p>
<p>So, overall, Izumi felt that she was quite justified in what she had said to him. He was so startled that he didn’t even get to punish her before school was let out. He did manage to send word home to her parents, however.</p>
<p>Tattletale.</p>
<p>And so, Izumi, Daughter of Zuko and Mai, Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, was grounded for a week. No playing outside with friends, no taking Druk for walks, no dessert. For one whole <em>week</em>. It was torture.</p>
<p>Her parents made her sit down and write an apology letter to her teacher, too. So she sat, alone in her room, with a blank piece of paper and a brush, fuming over the injustice of it all. Izumi did not know that, at that very moment, Zuko and Mai were releasing the laughter they had been holding in since they got the letter. Of course, they had to teach Izumi to be polite even to people she didn’t like. It was an important skill to have, especially if she was to be Fire Lord one day. That didn’t stop her parents from composing letters to their friends to tell the story, nor did it stop Zuko from deciding to use Izumi’s very creative insult on the finance minister, another very unpleasant man who could stand to be knocked down a few pegs.</p>
<p>They wouldn’t tell Izumi, of course, because they recognized that it was easier to teach good habits early than correct bad habits later. So, Izumi sat at her desk, staring at the paper.</p>
<p>She continued to sit there, arms crossed, huffing, when she heard a four-legged-friend come into her room. She looked over at the source of the noise. “Druk!”</p>
<p>The baby dragon made a happy noise and waddled over to cuddle up next to her. Druk had hatched over a year ago, but dragons could live for centuries and took many, many years to grow. At the moment, he was about the size of a line of turtleducks trailing after their mother when stretched out, and the size of a fat owlcat when curled up in Izumi’s lap.</p>
<p>Izumi scratched Druk on the crown of his head. “Hey, Druk. Sorry I can’t take you for a walk. Mom and dad said I’m grounded.”</p>
<p>Druk made a squeaky noise and cuddled up next to her. She continued to absentmindedly scratch his ears.</p>
<p>Izumi though about what to write in her apology letter. She honestly wasn’t sorry she said those things to her teacher. He was being very mean to Zunying, a shy girl who often had trouble speaking her opinion. When she gave the reason for her interpretation of the story they were reading, an act that required massive courage for Zunying, the teacher called her entire argument stupid and told Zunying she needed to think more.</p>
<p>Izumi’s family always told her that there were many ways to interpret stories, and that there is never a single right answer. Her dad, Zuko, loved plays, and her grandparents had been actors and directors. Even her Aunt Kiyi was a renowned theater critic and playwright, and shared these thoughts with her. So, Izumi couldn’t just stand to see her classmate bullied by her teacher.</p>
<p>Her parents agreed that her teacher was wrong, but they said that Izumi was wrong to insult him like that, and that she had to apologize.</p>
<p>“It’s so unfair, Druk! Why do I have to apologize for being mean to Mr. Yama, but Mr. Yama doesn’t have to apologize for being mean to Zunying? I mean, I know dad said not to say mean things about people, but he was asking for it!”</p>
<p>Druk squeaked again and puffed out a plume of smoke from his nostrils.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I know. I’m the princess, so I have to be a good example. But still! He should apologize to Zunying!”</p>
<p>Izumi suddenly sat up straighter. "I got it!" She picked up the brush. Dipping it in ink, she began to write.</p>
<p>
  <em>Dear Mr. Yama, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I apologize for insulting you in class…</em>
</p><hr/>
<p>Izumi’s teacher, Mr. Yama, was waiting for her when she arrived at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. While it had once been a boarding school, parents nowadays seemed to prefer keeping an eye on their children themselves, including the Fire Lord and his wife.</p>
<p>Arms crossed, he watched as Izumi departed from the carriage that had brought her from the palace, and trudged up the walkway to the entrance he was standing at. She stopped before him, clearly unhappy.</p>
<p>“Well, young lady?”</p>
<p>Izumi sneered, but she held out a rolled-up letter and bowed to him anyway. Mr. Yama took the letter and allowed her to enter the school. He untied the ribbon and read its contents.</p>
<p>
  <em>Dear Mr. Yama,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I apologize for insulting you in class. It was wrong of me to call you names. Please forgive me.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I think you also owe Zunying an apology. You were very mean to her, and it was wrong for you to call her ideas stupid. My family always told me there were many ways to interpret stories, and it was wrong of you to make Zunying cry.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sincerely,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Princess Izumi.</em>
</p>
<p>Mr. Yama stared in disbelief. The disrespect!</p>
<p><em>That girl wrote more about my supposed digressions than she did about her own apology! </em>he thought. <em>I’ll have to send another note to the Fire Lord! </em></p>
<p>Later, after school had let out, Mr. Yama sent a note to the Fire Lord about his daughter’s continued disrespect, as well as the letter Izumi had given him so he could see with his own eyes what his daughter was doing. Much later that night, just as he was preparing to go to bed, Mr. Yama received a knock at his door. He opened it to a messenger from the royal palace.</p>
<p>“Message for Mr. Yama?” said the messenger.</p>
<p>“I am he,” said Mr. Yama. The messenger presented him with a note on very lovely parchment, bowed, and made his way back to the palace.</p>
<p>Mr. Yama untied the ribbon and read the note, wondering what in the world was going on.</p>
<p>
  <em>Dear Mr. Yama,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I am afraid I do not see what disrespect you are talking about. Izumi very clearly apologized and acknowledged that it was wrong of her to call you names.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Izumi told me the circumstances that led to her outburst. While I assure you, she is still grounded, it seems as if you need to apologize to Zunying. The poor girl is awfully shy, and Izumi told me that she was crying for hours after school let out that day.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I suggest you do that as soon as possible. And I advise you to remember the curriculum changes that were made after the Hundred Year War. Students should be allowed to give their own interpretations of literature, and they should be guided to give clear reasoning to support their view. I must confess, I am disappointed to hear that this is not happening.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sincerely,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Fire Lord Zuko.</em>
</p>
<p>Mr. Yama tore the note in two, before sinking down on his sofa. Now the Fire Lord himself was questioning his ability to teach?</p>
<p><em>What am I going to do now?</em> he wondered.</p>
<p>If he wanted to keep in the Fire Lord’s good graces, maybe he should apologize to Zunying. It was usually prudent to take the path of least resistance in cases such as these, after all.</p><hr/>
<p>The next day, Izumi sat down to dinner with her parents. She was still mad about being grounded, but she couldn’t keep the smile from her face that day.</p>
<p>“Did anything interesting happen today at school, Izumi?” asked Zuko.</p>
<p>Izumi nodded. “Mr. Yama apologized to Zunying in front of the whole class! And the headmaster came in and reminded the class that, according to the rules, we were all allowed to give our own thoughts on the stories we read, as long as we gave good reasons!”</p>
<p>Zuko grinned mischievously. “That’s wonderful to hear! And you’re still behaving in Mr. Yama’s class, right?”</p>
<p>Izumi huffed. “Yes,” she groaned.</p>
<p>Zuko continued to eat his dinner, sharing a quick look with Mai. He had sent letters to both Mr. Yama and the headmaster, reminding them of the curriculum rules. He didn’t want tyrants teaching his daughter, or the children of the Fire Nation.</p>
<p>But Izumi didn’t need to know that. He didn’t want to make it seem to her like he was rewarding her decision to insult her teacher, after all. He wanted to make sure she understood the importance of diplomacy.</p>
<p>But, maybe he and Mai will conveniently forget about the grounding tomorrow and slip her some desert.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Inspired by the picture “Grounded” by Kimmy Tsunami on DeviantArt. Druk is much bigger in the picture than he is here, but it still kicked off the idea for this fic. See it here: https://www.deviantart.com/kimmy-tsunami/art/Grounded-759546530</p>
<p>Also, Izumi and Zuko’s Daddy-Daughter Bonding Time is totally going to see plays, especially The Classics™. And if she picks up some language from them, it’s okay, because it’s High Art.</p>
<p>I hope you enjoyed! Reviews are appreciated! :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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